Teams Using Slack

[Monochron]

If anyone cares to, could they explain how using Slack is better than "long email chains"? I have seen that said a couple of times but don't know what differences would give Slack an advantage.

[ollien]

Originally Posted by Monochron

If anyone cares to, could they explain how using Slack is better than "long email chains"? I have seen that said a couple of times but don't know what differences would give Slack an advantage.

Long email chains will result from many people replying. Slack is more of an IM service than an email service, meaning this won't happen.

[Ernst]

Originally Posted by Monochron

If anyone cares to, could they explain how using Slack is better than "long email chains"? I have seen that said a couple of times but don't know what differences would give Slack an advantage.

You can replace a decent number of those long email chains with an app like SimplePoll in Slack- you can quickly ask a question and people just have to click on an answer. For example, I've used it to find the best date to schedule a meeting and to get an idea of who would be interested in an event. So you can really condense and organize those responses and filter out the "Reply-all" notifications and mess while still keeping everyone in the loop.

Text responses are a lot easier to see, too. Instead of people adding different bits to the subject line ("Re:Fwd:RE:re:FWD...") and adding in all of their signatures and generally making a mess, you just have a name and a response.

[guniv]

Just to add on to the email discussion: right now the one issue with Slack is it's hard to be discussing multiple things concurrently. Conversations overlap and there's no "chain."

Luckily, though Slack has been teasing for months that they are working very hard to make a message-threading system. I guess the reason they are taking so long is that they're really trying to get it right.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/13/11...at-app-feature

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by Ernst

You can replace a decent number of those long email chains with an app like SimplePoll in Slack- you can quickly ask a question and people just have to click on an answer. For example, I've used it to find the best date to schedule a meeting and to get an idea of who would be interested in an event. So you can really condense and organize those responses and filter out the "Reply-all" notifications and mess while still keeping everyone in the loop.

Text responses are a lot easier to see, too. Instead of people adding different bits to the subject line ("Re:Fwd:RE:re:FWD...") and adding in all of their signatures and generally making a mess, you just have a name and a response.

I guess since all of that is possible with email (Google Apps integration, etc.) I don't see the pull. Maybe other people have problems with changing a subject like, but in our serious team communications (read; not just goofing off for fun) it isn't an issue. Changing the subject so that the chain splits off is a really useful feature to talk about related topics in different threads.

[Ernst]

Originally Posted by Monochron

I guess since all of that is possible with email (Google Apps integration, etc.) I don't see the pull. Maybe other people have problems with changing a subject like, but in our serious team communications (read; not just goofing off for fun) it isn't an issue. Changing the subject so that the chain splits off is a really useful feature to talk about related topics in different threads.

That's a good point, and I'm definitely excited for Slack to get threaded messaging. And of course, what works well for one group might not for another.

I just really like that (when we're done with the rollout) all of my FRC-related communications will be in one place instead of being split between 3 email accounts, facebook pages, facebook messenger, a website that doesn't sync with any of those, a messy whiteboard in a corner of the shop, a list scratched into a tabletop, a bulletin board on the side of the microwave, and a notebook under the pizza oven.

[katahar]

1. We have a Buisness channel, general channel (for announcements to everyone), a mechanical channel, a mentor channel, a NEM (non-engineering mentors) channel, a programming channel, random mechannel, and volunteering (we do volunteering on the side as a team).

2. Generally, we a have no-spam policy. Other than that, rules are generally just honor system.

3. Our team is about 30 people.

4. Initially, it worked really well, but after a while, slack stopped working for some members and it wouldn't allow other members to join.

5. Make sure that you have someone who knows the ins and outs of the program, because it can be very confusing to new "slackers".

[GeeTwo]

Another advantage of Slack over E-Mail chains:

As to something much lighter-weight than an e-mail response, on our team slack account we make extensive use of the "add reaction" action. For example, if we are in doubt as to attendance at an event, we'll ask those who will be there to "+1" or "-1" the post as to whether or not they will attend. Slack then automatically provides counts, and hovering over the thumbs up (+1) symbol tells us who agreed to show up very quickly.

The main advantage, of course, is that team members can decide dynamically whether or not to join a channel, and once the member joins, [s]he can see the whole post history. This is just plain not feasible for "long e-mail post" discussions.

[MailmanDelivers]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

As to something much lighter-weight than an e-mail response, on our team slack account we make extensive use of the "add reaction" action. For example, if we are in doubt as to attendance at an event, we'll ask those who will be there to "+1" or "-1" the post as to whether or not they will attend. Slack then automatically provides counts, and hovering over the thumbs up (+1) symbol tells us who agreed to show up very quickly.

That sounds great!


But how hard is it to join a conversation/discussion? With email chains, one has all the replies there, but for Slack, the replies could be for different discussions too. How do you separate these discussions?

[Theseusgoats]

Couple things about Slack...
It is a great tool for teams to communicate within each other and much more effective than email, as almost no students actually use their emails. However, if you are a school team, most likely it is blocked. Also, students tend to use it for other purposes, causing confusion and a general lack of productivity. So, big idea is to actually control Slack. If you can control it, it is your friend.

[robocodepodcast]

Teams 70 and 494 here

1. How did you have your slack channel set up? (i.e subgroups, build groups, etc)

Answer: We use separate channels for each team. In addition, we have a Mentors only channel and have created event channels such as MARC and IRI to record event happenings such as pictures related to each event.

2. Does your team have any guidelines to follow, such as rules that people have to follow?

Answer: We do not allow vulgar language, or anything negative int he channels.

3. How big is your team?

Answer: 14-20 Students and 10-12 Mentors

4. How has it worked out so far?

Answer: Very successful thus far and an easy interactive way to get the students involved rather than using email.

5. Anything we should know about Slack before we use it?

Answer: There is a learning curve for some individuals but giving a learning session via a projector and a laptop helps get the students and parents involved.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by MailmanDelivers

That sounds great!


But how hard is it to join a conversation/discussion? With email chains, one has all the replies there, but for Slack, the replies could be for different discussions too. How do you separate these discussions?

Usually, channel separation has proven to be sufficient for us. I am currently subscribed to 21 channels, about half of these have had no posts since our competition season ended. Whenever we identify an event, whether a demo or an off-season competition, that needs a channel, we create it. The "tryouts" channel was created yesterday to talk about how we will perform tryouts this year - only mentors and veterans are invited. Some channels will be active every year, others will eventually be archived; we have not yet worked out where this line should be drawn.

[bdaroz]

Just curious (and not to hijack this thread too much) is there any interest from Slack-using teams for a TBA Slack Bot?

Thinking about features like:

@tbabot info 5881
FRC Team 5881, TVHS Dragons out of Albany, New York, USA

@tbabot status 5881
FRC Team 5881, TVHS Dragons, has ended play for the season with their last event, New York Tech Valley finishing in rank X with W-L-T, and an overall record of OW-OL-OT in official competitions, and AW-AL-AT including offseason events.

@tbabot follow 5881
I'm now following FRC Team 5881, TVHS Dragons and will update this channel in real-time.

Pre-Alpha version: https://imgur.com/gallery/r5tYfnU

[dardeshna]

Team 8 has been using slack since Fall 2014 and it has been tremendously useful! I'll add a few things here but most has been covered.

1. How did you have your slack channel set up? (i.e subgroups, build groups, etc)

We have a lot of channels (probably more than we should). #announcements and #communication for team-wide discussion. #subteam for each subteam (build, design, software, business, art, web). 3-4 #random type channels (mentors avoid these 😉 ). Private channels are created for all sorts of things - team leadership, demos around the community, other projects, chemistry study groups, etc.

2. Does your team have any guidelines to follow, such as rules that people have to follow?

No cursing, and keep discussion relevant to the purpose of the channel. Slack can sometimes be distracting while trying to work on homework, but it's nowhere near something like Facebook.

Moderation is actually done by a few unofficial student moderators (myself included). Adults rarely step in (I cannot recall the last time an adult has had to step in because of a major issue regarding inappropriate slack usage).

3. How big is your team?

Currently fluctuates around 100 members including adults (~80 team members). We expect that to increase slightly this coming year.

4. How has it worked out so far?

Slack is so much better than email - although this is probably in part due to the fact that many students do not use email properly and forget to CC or reply all, which makes things messy. Kids of the 21st century are used to instant messaging, which slack more closely resembles. Adults tended to be slower to adopt slack as the main form of communication, as it was something driven by the students (as you may be able to already tell).

The productivity of the team has increased so much as slack allows things to be coordinated outside of lab time and with relative ease. Integrations such as google calendar and asana make slack even more useful and aid with scheduling and project management.

5. Anything we should know about Slack before we use it?

Make sure that as soon as members join the team they are pushed to use slack and check fairly frequently, so you don't have to continually remind them to stay active later in the year.

Slack standard is super awesome if you decide you like the platform, but definitely give it a try first.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions about slack usage, as our team does have a fair amount of experience with it and loves using it.

[WinterPoet]

Is anyone here using the free version of Slack? Does that work well? We've got around 20-30 people that would be using it, so is it worth it to upgrade?